"This is one of Mother Nature's worst kinds of storms that can be inflicted on the South. That is ice. It is our biggest enemy." -- Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, on Tuesday.

Why the dire language? Because, utility officials say, wind and a half-inch of ice or more could bring down power lines, and that means outages, possibly for days. The Atlanta area could see ice accumulations of three-quarters of an inch, and eastern Georgia and the Carolinas could see more.

At least 47,000 Georgia Power customers already were without power as of 8:45 a.m., with most in storm-struck metro Atlanta, the utility said. Stay tuned.

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 2:16:12 PM

Decatur, Georgia -- along with the rest of metro Atlanta -- is expected to see freezing rain and sleet through about 7 tonight, with possible ice accumulations of up to three-quarters of an inch. CNN's Nick Valencia in Decatur, ladies and gentlemen:

Did you get your food, people of the Southeast? We've seen a number of these kinds of photos over the past couple of days -- people clearing stores' dairy, bread and other shelves. This was taken Monday -- two days before the ice storm -- at a Whole Foods store in Atlanta. Photo by Jordan Hultine/CNN.

by Jason.Hanna

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 2:39:56 PM

CNN iReporter David Hopper says he's already seen an eighth of an inch of ice on tree branches in McDonough, about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta, and he has no intention of leaving his home during today's storm. A happy surprise: He got his paper this morning -- something he didn't get during the 2.5 inches of snow that crippled the area two weeks ago.

by Jason.Hanna

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 2:42:13 PM

by Jason.Hanna

How is the weather affecting you?

Send us your photos and video of snow, ice and sleet -- only if it is safe to do so -- by tagging your social media images #cnnireport or visiting CNNiReport.com. Or use the CNN iReport app.

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 2:57:16 PM

We're now at 93,000 customers without power from Alabama to North Carolina, according to officials. At least 54,000 customers are out in Georgia alone, according to Georgia Power.

After icing parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, a winter storm arrived Wednesday in Georgia, dropping a mix of ice and rain that was expected to continue pelting the Southeast into Thursday.

Up to three-quarters of an inch of ice was expected to accumulate on Atlanta and up to 10 inches of snow and sleet on Charlotte, North Carolina, making travel treacherous.

Area residents had heeded ample warnings issued by forecasters, emptying grocery store shelves, filling up their tanks with gas and filling their trunks with salt. In Atlanta, the city that couldn't get out of its own way after a 2.6-inch snowfall two weeks ago, road crews were staged along nearly empty highways.

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 3:11:28 PM

by Jason.Hanna

There are now more than 97,000 customers without power in Georgia alone -- and we have hours left in this ice storm. Tens of thousands of other outages have been reported from Alabama to North Carolina.

The above map, from the Georgia Power utility, will give you an idea of where the outages are. Don't be fooled by the numbers in the red circles -- the number represents a group of outages, and one can represent many customers. In this case, one of the "50+" circles near Atlanta represented 37,000 customers around 10:30 a.m. To see reported Georgia Power outages in real time, check this out: http://outagemap.georgiapower.com/external/default.html

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 3:36:44 PM

This is not just the Southeast, and not just ice.

According to CNN meteorologist Sean Morris:

In the Appalachians, more than 8 inches of snow were predicted to fall Wednesday.

Snow accumulations of 3 to 5 inches are expected in metropolitan Atlanta, and more in its northern suburbs. Northeast Georgia and upstate South Carolina could get more.

Residents of Charlotte, North Carolina, were looking at up to a foot of snow, while mountainous southwestern Virginia could see up to 14 inches.

In the New York City area, snow could begin early Thursday, change to a sleet/snow/rain mix around noon, and revert to snow Thursday evening. Accumulations of 6 to 10 inches are possible, with the highest accumulations in the western suburbs.

Manchester, New Hampshire, could start getting snow Thursday morning, and it should taper off by Friday morning. Accumulations of 8 to 10 inches are possible.

CNN iReportFreezing rain and sleet began early this morning and is expected to continue all day. Here's the view from my house at 9:00 Wednesday morning. Most everyone in the city and region is stuck at home. ...

At least 143,546 customers were without power in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina as of 10:45 a.m. ET, according to multiple power companies throughout the region.

More than 100,000 customers were without power in Georgia alone. Most were in the Atlanta area.

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 4:24:13 PM

The Southern storm that the National Weather Service warned could be "catastrophic" has slowed down air travel in the United States, CNN's Katia Hetter writes:

More than 2,800 flights out of 27,000 scheduled U.S. flights had already been canceled by 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.com. ...A normal February day would see fewer than 100 cancellations, according to FlightAware's Daniel Baker.

CNN iReportLooks like folks learned their lesson from 2 1/2 weeks ago ... this is Atlanta's downtown connector -- usually a logjam now totally devoid of cars. The forecasters have been pretty much on the mark..

by Dorrine Mendoza2/12/2014 4:41:24 PM

The number of customers without power in the South has risen above 187,600, according to data released by utilities in Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal has just praised Georgians for "heeding the warning" about today's storm.

People generally are "staying home and staying off the roadways," he said in a news conference at his office in Atlanta.

Contrast this with two weeks ago, when Atlanta-area highways were jammed for hours with people trying to leave the city as slightly more than 2 inches of snow fell.

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 5:23:49 PM

Elissa Visotski tells CNN's Dorrine Mendoza that ice brought down her parents' 30-year-old tree in Aiken, South Carolina, on Wednesday morning. Aiken is in an area that could get 1 inch of ice accumulation by Wednesday night, the National Weather Service says.

He told CNN's Wolf Blitzer minutes ago that the public, for the most part, has been staying home, which means residents are out of the way of crews that are trying to treat roads and restore power.

Georgia Power, the state's largest utility, reports that more than 120,000 of its customers are without electricity. The utility has said that anything more than a half-inch of ice could mean thousands and thousands of power outages for days -- and parts of Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia could get at least this much ice through Thursday.

More than 252,000 utility customers are without electricity in South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana Alabama, Arkansas and North Carolina, according to power company officials.

About 121,000 of those customers are in South Carolina. Georgia had more than 119,000.

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 6:37:08 PM

More than 400 members of the National Guard were deployed for weather duty in Georgia on Wednesday. The photo below shows Air National Guard members helping a driver whose vehicle slid into a median along Interstate 20 on Wednesday, the Guard said.

Heavy snow is falling in Raleigh, North Carolina, and sleet and freezing rain are expected there tonight. Google Maps shows the area was having severe traffic problems this afternoon. This image was captured a few minutes ago.

by Jason.Hanna

by Jason.Hanna2/12/2014 8:29:27 PM

Hey Atlanta -- does this look familiar? This is the scene right now in Raleigh, North Carolina.

by Sarah Aarthun2/12/2014 8:34:02 PM

More about this afternoon's poor traffic situation in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area: State officials are telling people there to stay off the roads.

Part of the problem in Raleigh -- the snow started at 2 p.m., CNN meteorologist Chad Myers says.

by Sarah Aarthun2/12/2014 9:11:31 PM

In Fayetteville, North Carolina -- roughly 60 miles south of Raleigh -- officials are asking everyone to stay where they are after the storm moved in quickly. “The traffic is becoming impassable. We have several abandoned cars,” a spokesperson for the City of Fayetteville said. “Roads are very treacherous, can’t see the curbs for the roads.”

The weather in the Raleigh-Durham area caught North Carolinians off guard when it changed from a "non-precipitation event to heavy snowfall," the State Highway Patrol's Public Information Officer tells us.